Chapter 1
The Word
Jesus is God in the flesh. He is eternally existing and completely equal with God the Father.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2).
Jesus is referred to as “the Word” in the first words of John’s gospel. The people in the Jewish culture at that time would have totally understood his usage of this term if they were in any way familiar with the Old Testament. Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their hosts”. And similarly, the prophet Isaiah makes this declaration: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).
To create a connection between the Lord and His earthly creation, the Targums (see notes below regarding the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Aramaic) used terminology from Hebrew (“to say”). For example, in Genesis 9:12, instead of a covenant between God and Noah, the Targums translated it to be a covenant between the Word of God and Noah. This was common in the Targums as the readers of the Aramaic translation would then understand what the original Hebrew was trying to convey. There are literally hundreds of places in the Old Testament where the Targums translated verses like this.
When John was written in Greek, the same sort of communication tactic was employed. To convey the actual meaning and paint a more clear picture of who Jesus is, the writer makes use of the Greek word ‘logos’, which means ‘speech’, ‘utterance’ and/or ‘word’. Jesus is God incarnate. Jesus is personified as the Word, the communication link between man and God. Verse 14 in John’s first chapter says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus laid aside His deity for a moment in time and took on human flesh (see Philippians 2:6-8). He felt our pain, our emotions our loneliness, our joys… and eventually took on our sin at the cross.
Notes regarding the Targums:
These are Aramaic translations of the Old Testament, with the exception of Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel. The earliest Targums were found in the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries. The word Targum actually means ‘translation or interpretation’.
Aramaic was the common language of the Babylonians. During the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century BC, Aramaic begin to gradually replace the Hebrew language among the Jews.
Scholars say the Targums were written between the 1st and 7th centuries AD. These translations were useful in painting pictures of the Hebrew language, illuminating themes, idioms, traditions and other linguistic features.
The Creator
There are many references in the Bible of Jesus as the Creator.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:3).
It is unmistakable that Jesus was present during the act of creation. And not only present, but active in it. Colossians 1:16 also attests to this fact, stating “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him”. John 1:10, Hebrews 1:2, 1 Corinthians 8:6 all point to Jesus as the Creator of all things.
It may be a hard concept to grasp, that Jesus existed in eternity past as Creator but yet was born in a manger a couple thousand years ago. But the doctrine of incarnation says that the Son of God was in the beginning with God having no material substance, but took on human form as a baby in a manger, the son of Mary and Joseph.
The Light
There was the true Light which coming into the world enlightens every man (John 1:9).
In a world that becomes darker with every passing day, what we need most is light. Light always expels darkness. Jesus is called the ‘light’ in this passage, and in John 8:12 He is called the Light of the world! The Jews would have understood this reference to light, because they would have been familiar with Psalm 27:1, where it states “The Lord is my light and my salvation”. It could be that John is again making the case that Jesus is God by referring to Jesus by the same term that was used in the Psalm passage about the Lord being ‘my light’. The hearers and readers of this declaration of the true Light likely also remembered what they were taught about the plague of darkness over the land of Egypt when their ancestors were in bondage to the Pharaoh. It was so dark that no one could see anyone else for three days… but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings (Exodus 10:23).
The light of Jesus permeates every aspect of our lives. It breaks through the heavy darkness and illuminates our path. The same light that exposes our sin also provides spiritual enlightenment, wisdom and understanding. The light that emanates from Jesus gives us the means by which we grow in our respective faiths. His light is the warm encouragement we so desperately need when we’re troubled by uncertainty, doubt and fear. Jesus is able to be this perfect Light because He is incorruptible, undefiled and pure; untouched by sin.
The Lamb
John invokes Old Testament imagery when he sees Jesus coming from a distance and exclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). Lambs were used quite extensively in the Jewish culture as sacrifices. To avoid having their firstborn children slain in the last plague inflicted upon Egypt, the God instructed Moses and Aaron to have the congregation of Israel to apply blood on their doorposts. What kind of blood were they to use? It was the blood from an unblemished male lamb (Exodus 12:5). It was called the Passover lamb, because God said in Exodus 12:13 that when He sees the blood, He would pass over them and that no plague would befall them or destroy them. This is a clear foreshadowing of Jesus: a clear picture of the deliverance that Jesus would provide for His people. He would be that unblemished, spotless Lamb that would be led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7) on our account. His blood would cover all of us who would believe in Him so that God’s wrath would pass over us and our sins removed completely and forever.
Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
The Son of God, the Son of Man
A few statements at the end of chapter one proclaim that Jesus is one-hundred percent deity, while at the same time being one-hundred percent human.
John declares that Jesus is the Son of God in John 1:34, and similarly Nathaniel, amazed that Jesus knew things about him, exclaims “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel”. Acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God is acknowledging that Jesus is deity.
Phillip refers to Jesus as the son of Joseph in John 1:45, and Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man in verse 51, both of which indicate the humanity of Jesus.
Jesus is God. And Jesus is human. No one else in the history of the world could ever make this claim. And as such, He was uniquely qualified to be our substitute when He went to the cross to bear God’s wrath on our behalf.
The deity and humanity of Jesus will be on full display throughout the book of John.
Chapter 2
The Friend
The second verse of the beloved hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, says:
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged—Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
So far, in just one chapter of John, we have encountered Jesus as fully God and fully human. We’ve seen Him as the Creator, the Light and the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Chapter one also mentions that two disciples called him Rabbi, recognizing Him as ‘Teacher’. And now we celebrate a wedding with Jesus as a Friend.
Couples getting married usually invite their closest friends to their weddings. Their intimate circle of family and friends are the people who participate in one of the most significant events of their lives. In John 2, Jesus was invited to a wedding in Cana. Whoever invited Him to the wedding viewed him as a friend. Anyone who has had a close friend or been a close friend knows what friends are for and what they do. They stick with us through thick and thin (Proverbs 18:24). They are faithful (Proverbs 27:6). They love each other no matter what (Proverbs 17:17) and they encourage one another (Proverbs 27:17). Good friends will indeed die for one another if necessary (John 15:13).
The wedding hosts were at the risk of embarrassment for running out of wine. Jesus cared for these people enough that He would not let that happen, and so He performed the first of His miracles that are recorded in Scripture. It seems particularly meaningful that, as He was manifesting His glory in what was the beginning of His signs (John 2:11), He did so as a ‘Friend’. What a friend we have in Jesus!
Perfect Love and Perfect Anger
Sunday School Jesus is often smiling and warm and mild. We imagine His voice being calm and quiet. It can be hard to fathom that Jesus, full of love and compassion, would ever have one angry bone in His body. But when He overturned the tables in the temple and wielded a scourge of cords to drive out the opportunists, He dispels the notion that “love” and “anger” cannot coexist. In fact, sometimes anger (the right kind) is necessary to show exactly what true love is, as Jesus demonstrates in this account.
The phrase “drove them all out” is literally to “eject by force of violence” in the original language. Jesus used overwhelming physical means to expel the people that were there for the wrong reasons. His motive for such a drastic action against the moneychangers is found in John 2:17, where the “disciples remembered that it was written ‘zeal for your house will consume Me’” (a throwback to Psalm 69:9). The “house” isn’t a reference to a building. Jesus was (and still is) zealous for His people. Enough so, that He didn’t hold back on His righteous anger. In a display of fury, we see that making the Father’s house a place of business was not exactly an endearing concept to Jesus. Turning the place where we worship God and pray corporately into the hub of our capitalist business venture is diametrically opposed to what God wants for His people. And so… whips cracking and tables flying…
If Jesus didn’t love His people, such a response wouldn’t be necessary. He could have just let it go. He could have just mildly walked away with the attitude that “swindlers gonna swindle”. He could have reasoned with them by teaching them and quoting some Old Testament passages that might change their minds. But Jesus, being God, knew the motives of their hearts. Jesus had a different idea as to what was supposed to be taking place in the temple , and so His zeal for His people energized Him into taking controlled and decisive steps.
Jesus is zealous for His people, so much so, that this zeal would eventually consume him. In response to the Jews who questioned His authority to upset the financial apple carts in the temple, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. But being dull of understanding, they had no idea that He was making reference to His death, burial and resurrection (John 2:20-22). Zeal for His people would consume Jesus at the cross: dying a horrible death to save sinners (even evil money-grabbing opportunists) from God’s wrath.
Establish my footsteps in Your Word ~ Psalm 119:133 